The inaugural Kubix Festival at Herrington Country Park drew crowds from far and wide this weekend.
The two-day event featured a top class lineup featuring acts covering all genres of music. There really was something there for everyone.
The first day of the festival was filled with a whole raft of 80s and 90s chart-topping artists. Whilst the sun bellowed down on Wearside, the festival crowd went “Deeply Dippy” over Right Said Fred.
Peter Andre followed and delivered a set featuring a subtle balance of his Top 5 singles along with a medley of covers from artists he grew up listening to such as Al Green, Bob Marley and Charles & Eddie. Andre brought his set to a close with his hit song “Mysterious Girl” which featured backing vocals from fans who were invited to the stage.
B*Witched recently returned to the forefront following their appearance on the Big Reunion TV show. The quartet took the Sunderland crowd through a greatest hits set featuring the likes of “Rollercoaster”, “C’est La Vie” and a perfectly timed rendition of “Blame It on the Weatherman”. The heavens opened during the latter however, this didn’t stop both the four-piece and their fans singing and dancing along each armed with their umbrellas.
Having made an impressive entrance onto the festival site earlier in the evening via helicopter, Boyzone’s Ronan Keating rounded out a thoroughly enjoyable first day at Kubix Festival.
A change of pace, to the programming, resulted in a punk-fueled Saturday afternoon in Sunderland. The Blockheads kicked off day two of the event whilst keeping the memory of the late great Ian Dury alive. No messing sets from both The Undertones and The Buzzcocks featuring their anthemic numbers such as “Teenage Kicks” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” transported the crowd back to the punk rock renaissance of ’77.
One of the highlights of the whole weekend came from Peter Hook and the Light who performed a set packed full of Joy Division and New Order classics. Each song in Hook’s eleven-song setlist being a timeless anthem in its own right. From dark brooding numbers such as “She’s Lost Control” and “Transmission” through to electronic indie rock masterpieces such as the unmistakable “Blue Monday” and “True Faith”. Peter Hook and the Light captivated the Kubix Festival crowd from the off.
Anglo American trio the Fun Lovin’ Criminals oozed cool as the festival progressed into Saturday evening. The band delivered a set of festival favourites like “Scooby Snacks”, “Love Unlimited” and the incredibly chilled out “Up On The Hill” from their sophomore album 100% Colombian. The trio brought something a bit different to the proceedings and were a welcome addition to the festival.
The Boomtown Rats featuring the legendary Bob Geldof were a popular choice on Saturday evening. The group delivered a lively career-spanning set that featured many of their hits including both “I Don’t Like Mondays” and “Rat Trap” and were the perfect precursor to the weekend’s main event.
Following a successful recent US tour, Adam Ant returned to the UK to close out Kubix Festival. Throughout his monumental forty-plus year career, Adam Ant has released an impressive twenty-five singles to date. Glancing around the festival site, it was very apparent that ‘Antmania’ had swept over Wearside, with many fans bedecked in outfits/makeup reflecting the various stages of the iconic artist’s career.
The crowd was won over from the off, with the likes of anthemic numbers such as “Beat My Guest” and “Ant Music” featuring early on in the show. The latter is typified by Adam Ant’s incredible vocal over the top of the hard-hitting synchronous rhythm from the pair of duelling drummers, who were perched up high on drum risers mounted above video screens bearing the star’s name. On the strength of this performance, it’s fair to say that, Adam Ant sounded just as good as he did back in his heyday.
Ant’s seventeen song setlist was full of old favourites including the likes of “Dog Eat Dog”, “Kings of the Wild Frontier”, “Prince Charming” and “Stand and Deliver”. Each of these songs was enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and took the Kubix Festival crowd to eighties heaven.
Over the course of the weekend, this boutique event had something for everyone. We look forward to more of what is to come from the newest addition to the North East’s festival calendar.
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Kubix Festival
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Event Date: 10/11-Aug-2018